Theme Day Tuesday!

My third grade classroom theme this year is ladybugs. I also incorporated polka-dots into the design because of the versatility of them. I have decided to show bits and pieces of my room to all you that carry out the theme of my room this year. So, every Tuesday I will be posting one different ladybug/polka-dot theme idea. I always enjoy getting ideas from other teachers on the web when it comes to classroom design and I am hoping I might be able to inspire some of you as well. My first theme idea comes from my behavior management system. This summer, I was reading about Canter's Behavior Management System and I thought I would try it this year in my room. Canter suggested tally marks on the board, but I changed it to spots on a ladybug. We have a goal of 50 spots. When we get there we will be having free center time and no homework for a week! Right now we have 44 spots. I have a really good class this year. I added the caption "Spotted Begin Good", and voila, my behavior management system! I have it in the front of my room on my white board so all can see. Check out the picture below! What do you use for you behavior management system?

National Constitution Day!

       I always introduce our government unit by reading the Magic Tree House books, Revolutionary War on Wednesday and the Research Guide to Revolutionary War on Wednesday. During the weeks leading up to National Constitution Day, we read both of these books. We did several activities including a novel study that I created. At the end of the unit, we made the Betsy Ross one cut, five pointed star. We labeled each star with one of the original thirteen colonies. Then, we created the first American flag with different facts about the American Revolution. You can check out the novel study and learn how to make the flag for yourself by clicking on our class flag. I hope you all had a great Constitution Day. Happy Blogging!

New Products

Mrs. J is holding a linky party. Head on over to her site to see some of the newest teacher created items on Teachers pay Teachers. If you would like, link up your newest product and then link back to her in your blog. Here is the link below:
http://publicschoolteachersodyssey.blogspot.com/2011/09/new-products-linky-party.html

Great Buy!

My mother-n-law bought these adorable frames at the dollar store. Since my classroom theme is ladybugs they are perfect. They are specifically made to display student work in the hallway. All you have to do is remove the perforated inside (which are name labels). I decided to laminate them. This has made them a lot sturdier. This also has been great about keeping the work protected from passersby. I hot glued (a teacher's best friend) the outer corner of the frames on the sides and bottom. This way I can slip the student's work in and out without having to remove the frame. You can't get any better than the dollar store. Check them out for yourself! 





 

Pet Rocks!

Free picture collage personalized with Smilebox

My third graders are in the process of learning about rocks and minerals. I always love starting the year off with this unit because my students always find a love for science during it. All of my students brought in a rock (no bigger than their fists , we don't need pet boulders :) ). We started off by taking some data on our rocks. We weighed them, measured them, tested their hardness, tested for acid, and we tested it's buoyancy. Then came the fun part. We painted our pet rocks! Since my classroom theme this year is ladybugs, we painted our rocks to look accordingly. I personally think they are too cute!! With a couple of wiggly eyes, our pet rocks really came to life. Next week we are going to be taking our pet rocks outside for a streak test on the basketball court. The pictures above are just a few of our lovable ladybugs.